to think that if this is the state of British comedy it's a bit depressing

[Servalan]

So I went to a comedy club last night. Quite a well known one. 3 comedians and the warm up guy.

I haven't been to a comedy club in about 5 years, and maybe I'm having misty-eyed memories of it, but I seem to remember comedy having some political relevance, being pertinent to people's lives.

Last night, there was 1 political gag all night. Everything else just seemed to be casual misogyny.

My "favourite" was along the lines of "be careful of something being slipped in your drinks ladies... it's called vodka. No, it's not rohypnol(sp?), you're just a whore"

Another comedian when a woman in the audience said something he didn't like - (to be slightly fair she had offered to high-five him because she thought he was being anti-islamic and she was too...) said "I'm rejecting you, though I'll f*k you in the a*e". Fine, she was fair game for a put-down - but why that particular one?

Every comedian used the words "slag" and "whore".

I'm not a prude. I'm perfectly fine with crude jokes. It just seemed so nasty towards women.

I'm sure it didn't used to be as bad as this. It's as if feminism didn't happen

Please tell me that this isn't the norm in live comedy these days

I don't think it's the norm. We've been to a couple of comedy club things recently and I don't remember much in the way of anti-women stuff.

My complaint is that most of them seem to rely on crude/sexual jokes which I don't generally find to be very witty, but then I tend to favour the more observation-of-life humour.

One or two have been hysterically funny though, so perhaps I've just blocked out some of the bad stuff!

Blimey. (The first gag doesn't even make sense.) Name names!

It isn't the norm, there's some really good stand up out there like Brendon Burns - but if you're a bit sensitive or easily offended don't go to see Jim Jeffries. Although Jim Jeffries Amsterdam porn warehouse joke is VERY funny.

It'sBeenAgesSinceI'veBeenToAComedyNightTiggaxx

Depressing is the right word. Think you should name and shame so we can avoid going to see these pricks - I certainly don't want to give them any of my money. There's a lot of it about judging by the mysterious success of Jimmy Carr and the disappointing comments about Harriet Harman on Mock The Week (which I usually enjoy).

Nothing libellous about repeating someone's jokes, btw!

(Hope it wasn't Stephen K Amos, have booked to go and see him in November.)

sounds like you had really bad luck - but if it is a trend, you're right, it's extremely depressing.
DId anyone walk out? I think I would have.
I find the same thing with a lot of "humorous" birthday etc. cards - either too much sexual innuendo or just put downs - nothing funny about them really, so maybe it is a trend, like Jimmy Carr.

Oh, and if you name and shame and they do a vanity google, they might realise people don't actually appreciate sexism, any more than racism.

If no-one complains, they probably think it's OK.

Servalan, that sounds crap. Defo name and shame. They sound like a right pair of unfunny pricks.

I hope you heckled. All part of the fun.

at SF

Heh, I've been Googling 'good heckles' and I found this:

'This guy, Stephen somebody, was not having a great time, due, in part, to some pretty inspired heckling. At one point he waited for silence, and said something like "You know, I came here to perform and I'm trying hard, so the least you could do is be polite". And in the ensuing silence, a guy in the crowd stood up and replied, "Stephen, we'd be ever so grateful if you would please leave the stage."'

Snort

You said it was quite a well know comedy club. I've often found that if I go to Comedy Store in Manchester on a Friday or Saturday (particularly the late show) the audience is full of pissed up stag and hen dos or people whos knowledge of comedy doesn't stretch much further than a Peter Kay DVD box set. As such the acts tend to be more focused on sex and drinking.

But you're right. There is an awful lot of misogyny in British comedy at the moment which goes completely unquestioned.

If you like the political stuff and are of a left wing pursuasion, go and see Mark Thomas. He does get a bit ranty at times, but I think he's brilliant.

I think that part of the problem is that although many people might find what is being said quite offensive, it is can be very well delivered.

I saw Jim Jeffries at a comedy club with several acts on the bill a few years ago. Afterwards DH and I were discussing who we was very surprised when I said that I really didn't like Jim Jeffries and that I thought he was an obnoxious woman hater, as I had been laughing through his act. He was very funny, but I wouldn't want to go and see him talking about violent porn again in a hurry!

choppy if you like Mark Thomas I guess you probably like Bill Hicks/George Carlin I can highly recomend Brendon Burns.

MuchLaughingTiggaxx

Michael McIntyre is good, Stephen K Amos too.

Mind you, I used to always laugh at Mike Reid. Could be sexist, but most of the time the laughs were at his expense, if a little blue!

I love Tim Minchin, but lots of swearing!

Oops, sorry - posted the opening post and then vanished - RL happened and then I forgot I'd posted .

There were lots of hen parties/stag parties there (I was there with a hen party in fact), so yes, I think that did have some sort of affect on the material. I agree about the delivery Choppy - apart from the warm up man, who seemed a bit out of his depth tbh, it was all delivered very well, and I was laughing a lot of the time - not at the examples I gave before though!

Also, there was the kind of luring the audience in thing first. The guy who had the rohypnol "gag" (can't remember any of their names, which is a pain!!) started off by doing lots of gags about the fact he was overweight and stuff about the playground game "bundle" to make us all nostalgic, then the misogyny started to creep in very gradually until he became quite obnoxious.

Honestly no problems with smut. Just the nasty sexism

As a bit of a coda to this, I was talking to my dear dad yesterday. My mother died last year and he's not the kind of man to sit around feeling sorry for himself, so he's been throwing himself into all sorts. Anyway, one thing he did was go out with my brother to the Comedy Store in central London one night a couple of months ago. He was saying yesterday that the material was unbelievably crude, and he felt extremely uncomfortable, as a 70-something man mourning his wife, sitting in a room alongside people pissing themselves at extremely explicit material.

Made me sad and angry - despite the fact that comedy is something he really enjoys, this is a social activity he's crossed off his list.

Not all live comedy is like that. A lot is because it appeals to the masses when they're pissed. I do have to say that expletives in the right place can be funny though.

We went to see Rob Brydon not that long ago and he was very funny and not explicit at all. Made some funny jokes about the middle classes which were spot on and about his wife's homebirth which were great.

I would recommend him if you prefer jokes without the words slag or whore IRRC

Russell Howard still does some great observation of life stuff...

Also the R4 Now Show/News Quiz teams do some brilliant stuff. I listen to the downloads when I'm out running which leads to much random chortling in the middle of nowhere

I do object to the stuff your talking about, tho - it's like the pendulum is swinging back the other way. Is it that men are feeling nervous?

DP and I went to see Russell Howard life. He was very good but I have since noticed that everything he does on mock the week is lifted directly from his stand up routine.

I am sure that is the case with all of them but it kind of shatters the illusion about him being spontaneously funny....